Hey NASCAR fans, buckle up—because we’re in for one hell of a ride! The 2025 season is already heating up, and with the Daytona 500 just around the corner, the intensity is reaching a fever pitch. Whether you’re a die-hard supporter of the sport or just getting into the world of stock car racing, there’s one thing we can all agree on—this season is shaping up to be unforgettable.

Joey Logano is no stranger to criticism. As a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he has heard it all—from those who claim his playoff wins were “Mickey Mouse” victories to those who believe the current system is fundamentally flawed. But Logano isn’t buying any of it. In a fiery defense of the NASCAR playoff format, Logano made his stance crystal clear: the system is great, and if you don’t perform in crunch time, that’s on you.

Joey Logano wants people to stop living in the past

In NASCAR, the controversy over the playoff format never seems to fade. Opponents label it a “gimmick,” say it diminishes season-long superiority, and say it makes the championship a game of luck instead of a real test of superiority. Joey Logano has heard it all—the gripes, the so-called “Mickey Mouse” jibes, the calls to bring back the old points system.

His answer? Keep talking. He’s too busy winning. The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion doesn’t have time for nostalgia. While some pine for an era when consistency was enough to clinch a title before the season finale, Logano loves the high-stakes theater of the current playoff system. To him, it’s easy: pressure makes champions. “If you’re the best, prove it when it counts,” Logano said ahead of the Daytona 500. And that’s exactly what he believes the NASCAR playoffs demand.

Logano makes the analogy to other sports leagues, most notably the NFL, where it doesn’t always take the top regular-season team to win a championship. No one gives the Super Bowl ring to the nine-game season’s best team—it’s all about rising to the occasion when things are on the line. “And the same way we just watched the NFL go through their playoffs, right? It doesn’t matter. Good of a regular season have, you may be seeded better in the first round, right?” He added.

Take Tony Stewart’s 2011 championship run, for example. Despite a poor start to his season, he roared back to form late in the season and clinched the championship. He was on level in points with Carl Edwards, but five wins during the 10-race chase, compared to Edwards. So, there was an element of luck and a chance here, which NASCAR tried to sort out with a single-race championship shootout with its new iteration of playoffs. Team Penske certainly has cracked the code on how to come up clutch in the post-season winning three consecutive championships. But, Logano’s title triumph didn’t go down well with the fans who even labeled him as an undeserving champion.

Logano has no problem getting the job done in the clutch. Moreover, he is certainly not sold on going back in time and doing away with the current elimination-style contest. “Everyone has motives behind what they say, too, right? And I can honestly say this. Mine is I think it’s great. I enjoy watching. I enjoy watching the trucks. I enjoy watching Xfinity stuff. It’s the same playoff system. It’s awesome… Who in their right mind wants to go back to what we used to do? I watch that, too. Like, it’s so easy for us as a society to look back and say, like, good old days.” Logano explains further.

He knows that not everyone will love the playoff system. Some people will always be nostalgic about the past, feeling that the championship should be the entire body of work, not an intense sprint to the end. But for Logano, it’s simple: NASCAR has changed, and so should the championship. There’s no asterisk beside his titles. No footnotes. Just victories when it counted most. Love him or hate him, Logano’s stance is clear. The NASCAR playoffs are here to stay, and as far as he’s concerned, that’s exactly how it should be.

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Logano addresses the level-playing field issue

Joey Logano has never had a problem stating his mind, and with the 2024 Daytona 500 looming on the horizon, the three-time Cup Series winner made a scathing comment regarding the playing field. While juggernaut teams such as Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, and Joe Gibbs Racing are putting pedal to metal with their gearing up, their smaller counterparts have a harder journey ahead. Their destiny rides on limited practice time—something Logano firmly feels is a disadvantage coming into the largest race of the year.

With 36 chartered drivers already secured in Sunday’s 200-lap season opener, nine drivers will be competing to fill the four open spots. While it is an opportunity in theory, some are better situated than others. Logano highlighted this during an interview with Sirius XM NASCAR, saying, “You’re qualifying for the Great American Race – more eyes on our sport than ever. And then you’re asking everyone to go out there cold turkey without even running the car – and you got a lot of drivers that just haven’t been here.”

While 2025 is the first year since 2022 that NASCAR has brought back a practice session prior to the Daytona 500, Logano feels one session is not sufficient. He contended that veterans such as Helio Castroneves, who has never driven a Next-Gen car, are being put in the deep end with little preparation. Powerhouse teams have the upper hand with established procedures, top-of-the-line resources, and experience coping with Daytona’s pitfalls. “There’s a lot of teams that have a greater benefit out of it…’cause the procedures aren’t normal Team Penske, Hendrick, or Gibbs – they’ve got a procedure for everything,” Logano said. “For a smaller team, it’s not like you can shake these things down elsewhere.”

As Logano targets a back-to-back Daytona 500 pole, smaller teams have to do the best they can with what they have. They may not be able to match the deep pockets of NASCAR’s giants, but their hunger and desire could be just what it takes to shake up the Great American Race.